One of the more popular desserts is ice cream or frozen yogurt covered with a low acid (higher than 4.6 pH) topping, such as hot fudge, caramel, butterscotch, etc. In the past, these low acid toppings contain a certain amount of fat to produce a topping having the desired shelf life, lubricity, rheological property and the desired organoleptic characteristics to obtain a topping which flows over the top of ice cream or other frozen dessert and then somewhat solidifies so that it does not drain off the dessert. Thus, ice cream toppings have contained a relatively high calorie content. For instance, a commercial hot fudge topping would contain 300 calories per hundred grams. Such calorie levels are clearly acceptable and produce a desired product. The fat gives the organoleptic characteristics needed to satisfy customers. However, there is a distinct commercial need in the mass distribution of retail products to produce toppings for frozen desserts, which topping has reduced calorie content. In the past, efforts to reduce the calorie content of a topping, such as hot fudge topping, resulted in a deterioration of the lubricity, rheolographic and/or organoleptic characteristics of the product. The hot fudge topping would solidify on the ice cream and produce a hard cap or would otherwise be clearly distinguishable from the properties anticipated by a customer for high quality hot fudge topping. Further, efforts to produce lower calories resulted in higher water activity, which was not acceptable for desired shelf life.
In the marketplace, consumers are confronted with a large number of ice cream toppings, such as hot fudge toppings to which the present invention is particularly directed, which toppings have distinct flavor and characteristics. The consumer judges the quality of the product by its taste and its physical reaction upon use. If the fudge is too viscous at room temperature, a consumer can not use the product at room temperature. If heating causes the topping to become extremely low in viscosity, then the topping drains from the cold dessert upon which it is placed. If the product does not have a substantially reduced viscosity upon heating, it can not be conveniently placed in the desired pattern on the frozen dessert. After placing on the dessert, if the hot fudge topping does not set up or become viscous at the reduced temperature of the frozen dessert, then the hot fudge topping drains from the frozen dessert and becomes somewhat distractive in appearance and less acceptable in a commercial sense. All of these commercial aspects have been generally addressed in standard hot fudge topping produced by various topping manufacturers. However, efforts to reduce the calories of these toppings have not proven successful in maintaining the same quality expected by the customer while merely reducing the calorie content of the topping and a low water activity.